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Continuing our discussion from part two, while I have taken a slight detour from our main topic of discussion in this series -- that is, the office of a Prophet -- I hope that if nothing else, my words have clearly demonstrated to you the sharp contrast which exists between true, humble servants and Prophets of the Lord, and the many proud, greedy, false shepherds who control and promote organized religion today. So many of them lack the humility of our ancient forefathers of the faith.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this series, another problem which currently exists within Christianity, concerns those individuals who have felt the call to be teachers of the Holy Scriptures. Contrary to the attitude of humility which I described earlier, there are certain proud, misguided people who obviously believe that their word, or their doctrine, or their interpretation, is etched in stone, as if it were the direct, infallible Word of God. These people tend to be very rigid and totally inflexible in their views. Due to their own pride, they have elevated themselves to such a position, that if anyone should dare to question their interpretation of the Scriptures, they are looked down upon and condemned.

Sadly, I have seen this arrogant, holier-than-thou attitude manifest itself a number of times on the social networks; particularly on Facebook where I am quite active. It amazes me to see how quick some Christians are to accuse their own brethren of being false brethren, false teachers, or false prophets, simply because they have a different understanding of certain verses in the Bible. Some Facebook users are very quick to unfriend or even block people who do not agree with their views. Let's face it. There will be, and are, a lot of doctrinal disagreements between Christians. However, unless someone is actively promoting an outright heresy which can clearly be disproved by the Scriptures, should we be so fast to break fellowship with them?

Personally, while I desire with all of my heart to fully understand the mysteries of the Word of God -- particularly those Scriptures which deal with Bible prophecy -- and while I do my best to study and compare Scripture with Scripture, as I stated earlier, I must humbly admit that I can make no claim to having interpreted anything in the Bible with one hundred per cent accuracy. I feel that we all need to remain conscious of the fact that we are prone to error, simply because we are human, and not adopt a position of extreme adamancy as some people have done.

Of course, with everything I say, there is a balance. I am not suggesting that we should not stand firm concerning what we believe the Lord has truly shown us in His Word. However, we should likewise possess the humility to admit when we are wrong, as well as the flexibility to change our views when additional study of the Scriptures reveals that we may be mistaken, or at the very least, a little bit off-center in our interpretation and understanding of certain verses.

No one can deny that trying to understand eschatological events is a very complex issue. I am sure that the Lord, by His Holy Spirit, tries to help all of us to understand the same things in His Word; particularly in regard to Bible prophecy. I am reminded of something the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth:

"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."


Tragically, because of the fact that we did not live during the times of Christ and the Twelve Apostles, and because we have not learned from them directly, and because almost two thousand years have transpired since the original Gospel and revelations were given, there has been plenty of time for many false ideas, doctrines and practices to creep into our belief system; exactly as I have demonstrated through the example of the Roman Catholic Church. And even with that, I barely scratched the surface. Again, please refer to some of the other articles which are listed at the end of this same series.

As I explain in other articles such as "The Book of Enoch: Truth or Heresy?", some of these false teachings crept in due to simple human error and misunderstanding, while others were intentionally and purposely meant to pervert the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, thus making it less effective. Furthermore, this corruption of the Gospel was also a result of compromise between the political and religious systems during the first centuries of the Christian era.

It is for this reason that even the writers of the Epistles issued warnings to the Believers of their day, such as the following example which was written by the Apostle Paul. In this particular case, Paul is rebuking the Christians who dwelt in Galatia, due to the fact that they had allowed certain misguided brethren to place them under the bondage of the Mosaic Law again. In other words, they were mixing the works of the Law and Grace, which Paul strongly opposed:

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."


The end result of centuries of manipulation is that today, the truth has been buried under a lot of theological rubble, erroneous traditions of men, philosophical meanderings, and in some cases, outright lies. Due to these various factors, as well as to our own pride, stubbornness, and our personal resistance to change, our minds and hearts can sometimes be filled with preconceived ideas and opinions, long-held cherished doctrines, and influences from other people which prevent us from receiving a clearer understanding of what it is the Lord is trying to reveal to us in His Word.

I can speak from personal experience regarding these matters. For many years, I too embraced certain beliefs which I have since discarded. This is because, similar to many people in organized religion today, I blindly accepted what was being taught to me without question. I was a spoon-fed Christian. I had no personal foundation in God's Word; so I was easily led astray in a doctrinal sense. However, once I began to really study the Scriptures on my own, aided by God's Holy Spirit, instead of having the "truth" served to me, I began to see and understand certain things in a new light. My friends, I cannot over emphasize the importance of personal Bible study. At the same time, let me again remind you that there is a balance to this view; for as we are told in God's Word:

"A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight."


When we are still young in our relationship with the Lord, or what the Scriptures refer to as being babes in Christ, it is only natural that we should need someone else who is more spiritually mature than ourselves, who can feed and instruct us in the ways of truth. The Apostle Peter in fact refers to such young Christians as "newborn babes" who must "desire the sincere milk of the word". Furthermore, the Apostle Paul also emphasizes the importance of having Spirit-led teachers in the Church of the Lord. Consider the following group of verses:

"As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:"


"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?"


"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:"


"And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."


However, as we have already discussed, we need to be very careful when it comes to choosing who we can trust to be a faithful teacher of God's Word, because there are a lot of false, misguided, deceptive teachers out there who can very easily lead us in the wrong direction. But once again, this problem is nothing new. It has been around since the Lord first established His Church. This becomes evident by verses such as the following where the First Century Apostles also warned their flocks to beware of such individuals who were either not mature enough in a spiritual sense to teach the Word of God, or who purposely twisted and perverted its intended meaning:

"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself."


"From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm."


"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."


"Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."


"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."


"And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest [twist, pervert], as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."


So again, we must beware of such individuals who for one reason or another may lead us astray, to the point that we become deceived ourselves. We must seek out God-fearing, Spirit-filled teachers who adhere to the Scriptures, and who truly know what they are talking about. In this day and age of widespread deception, it may not be such an easy task.

Eventually, however, there comes a time when all parents expect their children to learn how to feed themselves, how to clothe and care for themselves, and how to eventually go out on their own as young adults in order to start their own families. As the Apostle Peter wrote in the previous verse, the purpose of studying God's Word is so "that ye may grow thereby". In other words, we can't remain spiritual babies for our entire lives. In fact, this is a topic which I also discuss in the series entitled "Are You Just a Baby Huey?: How to Organize Your Own Home Fellowship".

As mature Christians, the Lord also expects us to learn how to feed ourselves, or perhaps better said, how to be fed and spiritually nourished directly by Him through our faithful study of His Word, so that we can be firmly established in the faith. In other words, when we are young in the Lord, just as occurs with physical children who accept what they are taught by their parents, many Christians also believe and accept without question what we have been taught by our priest, pastor, minister or Bible teacher.

In a sense, our faith is really their faith, because we are believing as they believe, and understanding the Scriptures as they understand them. While this may be good and well for a time, what the Lord really desires of us is that we are fully persuaded of our beliefs for ourselves. We must act and work according to our own faith based upon our personal knowledge of God's Word. This is why the Apostle Paul wrote the following when a problem arose in the Church concerning the eating of meat and the observance of Jewish holy days:

". . . Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."


"Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth."


So as you can see, our faith must not simply be based upon what we have heard from others. Rather, it must be based on a certain knowing; and the only way that knowing comes is through a personal, diligent study of the Word of God. This is how we each become fully persuaded of the Truth; for real faith comes only through hearing -- or reading and studying -- the Word of God. In contrast, if our faith is only built on what we have heard from others, then we may falter when storms strike our lives. We may sink, just as the Apostle Peter began to sink under the waves of the Sea of Galilee. Following are a few more verses which help to clarify these thoughts:

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."


"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."


"And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."


For those of you who have young children, this concept is particularly important. As Christian parents, we desire with all of our hearts that our children will grow up possessing a fear of the Lord, and a love for His Word. Thus, in the few short years that they are with us, we try our best to fill their minds and hearts with the knowledge of the Lord.

However, despite our best efforts, we must all realize that the day will eventually arrive when our children will reach the age of accountability. At that time, they are going to have to decide on their own what they choose to believe. In that day, their faith is going to have to be based on their own belief in, and acceptance of, the Word of God, because we will no longer be standing next to them saying "This is the Truth. This is what you must believe because I believe it."

They are going to have to be fully persuaded of these things for themselves of their own free will, and not just because mom and dad say so. Now, if we have been faithful shepherds during their formative years, hopefully, our children will make the right choice despite any opposition they may get from antagonistic school friends, atheistic teachers, or anyone else who may come along in their lives and question their beliefs. Hopefully, as it is written in the Book of Proverbs, they will not depart from the Way they have been taught, as we see here:

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."


Hopefully, our children will be so filled with the Word and the Spirit of the Lord, that they will easily and readily be able to humbly yet convincingly provide the proper answers concerning their faith straight from the Bible. As Peter wrote in his first Epistle:

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:"


As I have now made rather clear, the key is faith based upon a diligent, personal study of, and an understanding of, God's Word. This is truly the only way that any of us can be fully persuaded of what we believe. This is the only kind of faith which will endure the storm and pass the hardest test. It is the faith of gold tried in the fire as we see mentioned by the Apostle Peter in this verse:

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:"


With this last thought, we have now come full circle in this discussion. For you see, in order for one to be a faithful and effective prophet, teacher or evangelist for the Lord, he must be firmly convinced of what he believes, and in Whom he has believed. It is this kind of strong conviction which the Apostle Paul wrote about in his second Epistle to his beloved son in the faith, Timothy, as we see here:

"For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."


This is exactly why the Prophets and holy men of ages past were able to endure the things which they did; for they knew in Whom they believed. There must be no room for doubt or vacillation in our minds and hearts whatsoever; for if there is doubt, the enemies of Christ will surely find it out and make use of it. We must know what we believe, and why we believe it. Otherwise, we may be devoured by the roaring lion, as we see in these two verses:

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"


"Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion."


So if you wish to remain safe from the jaws of the lion, and his demon-inspired emissaries in this perverse generation, you must faithfully read, study, believe in and memorize the Word of God! In this way, and in this way only, you will be founded upon the Rock, and you will not be ashamed in the evil day. You will keep the Heavenly Vision right up to the very end, despite anything they may try to do to stop you. Following are some additional verses to inspire your heart:

"He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock."


"And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."


"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."


"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."


"But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."


In conclusion, if I were to summarize the main points of this series, I suppose that it would be the following:

1. If God has called you to be a prophet within His Church, make absolutely certain that you are truly hearing from Him, and not just from your own mind, before you speak a single word. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut!

2. If God has called you to be a teacher, make certain that whatever you teach is fully supported and confirmed by His recorded Word, meaning the Bible.

3. If God has called you to be an evangelist, make certain that you are preaching the straight, unadulterated truth of His Word without compromise or political correctness.

4. Whatever position God gives you within His Church, make sure that you carry it out in a spirit of humility, giving Him the glory at all times. As the Apostle Paul wrote:

"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."


5. Watch out for false teachers and false prophets. Confirm all things with God's Word before you accept them as being the truth.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Abundant Life Doctrine: Scripturally Exposed!
Apostasy of Oprah Winfrey: America's False Prophetess?
Are You Just a Baby Huey?: How to Organize Your Own Home Fellowship
Don't Ever Underestimate Our Spiritual Enemy
Elijah: Where Are the True Prophets of God?
Humility in Our Understanding of God's Word
Lies and Deceptions of the Roman Catholic Church
Mary Worship, Christianity and Roman Catholicism
Modern False Prophets and Worldly Ecumenism
Money-Making Bible Hucksters and Mammon
Nostradamus: Prophet of God, or Messenger of Satan?
Pontifex Maximus: Pagan High Priest to Roman Catholic Pope
Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth
Should Christians Engage in Doctrinal Debates?
So You Really Think You Are So Humble?
Sorry . . . Jesus Is Not Coming At Any Moment
Speak the Pure Language of Truth
The Book of Enoch: Truth or Heresy?
The Misguided End of the World Predictions of Harold Camping
The Only Credentials You Need!

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